"When Queen Mary took the resolution of sheltering herself in England, the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, attempting to dissuade her, attended on her journey; and when they came to the irremeable stream[1] that separated the two kingdoms, walked by her side into the water, in the middle of which he seized her bridle, and with earnestness proportioned to her danger and his own affection pressed her to return. The Queen went forward.—If the parallel reaches thus far, may it go no farther.—The tears stand in my eyes.
"I am going into Derbyshire, and hope to be followed by your good wishes, for I am, with great affection,
"Your, &c.
"Any letters that come for me hither will be sent me."
[1] Queen Mary left the Scottish for the English coast, on the Firth of Solway, in a fishing-boat. The incident to which Johnson alludes is introduced in "The Abbot;" where the scene is laid on the sea-shore. The unusual though expressive term "irremeable," is defined in his dictionary, "admitting no return." His authority is Dryden's Virgil:
"The keeper dream'd, the chief without delay
Pass'd on, and took th' irremeable way."
The word is a Latin one anglicised:
"Evaditque celer ripam irremeabilis undæ."
In a memorandum on this letter, she says:—"I wrote him (No. 6) a very kind and affectionate farewell."